LSU in position to grab title as college football's best team ever

If top-ranked LSU defeats No. 2 Alabama tonight in the BCS championship game at the Mercedes-Benz Superdome, the Tigers can claim to be more than the best college football team of the 2011 season. They can claim to be the best college football team of all time, and they can dethrone Alabama in that category in the process.

Rusty Costanza/The Times-PicayuneLSU cornerback Morris Claiborne intercepts a pass intended for Alabama tight end Brad Smelley, setting up an LSU field goal to tie the score at 6 on Nov. 5 at Bryant-Denny Stadium.

At least that's the view of Richard Billingsley of the College Football Research Center, whose computer rankings are one of six used in determining a portion of the BCS standings.

Alabama's 2009 national championship team is Billingsley's all-time leader, and the 1971 Nebraska team is second, so a win by LSU tonight would take that distinction from the Crimson Tide.

"That would sweeten the pot a little bit," Tigers sophomore defensive end Barkevious Mingo said. "You think of all the teams that have ever played, and we'd be considered the best of all time. It would be a great honor."

Not that Alabama would willingly give up the mantle, even if Crimson Tide players weren't aware they had the title.

"Nobody's ever told us about it," said senior guard Alfred McCullough, who was a member of Alabama's 2009 title team. "It's amazing to be recognized like that. I guess we'd just better go out and win then."

In Billingsley's view, LSU's accomplishment would eclipse Alabama's, although that was impressive as well.

"It took 37 years for somebody to beat that Nebraska team, so when it happened a couple of years ago, I thought, 'This is it,' " Billingsley said. "Nobody else would be able to play as difficult a schedule as Alabama did that year and come through it undefeated. Honestly, I thought it would stand for a long, long time."

But what LSU is on the verge of doing, Billingsley said, is to go undefeated playing the third-most difficult schedule in college football history.

Only Florida's once-beaten national champions of 2008, which is No. 35 on Billingsley's list of the top 200 teams of all time, and Washington's 2007 team, which went 4-9, had tougher ones.

In fact, even if LSU loses, the Tigers would be No. 13 on Billingsley's list, making them by far his top once-beaten team. Alabama, whose only loss is a 9-6 setback in overtime to visiting LSU on Nov. 5, would be No. 14 if it wins. The next once-beaten team is the 1993 Florida team at No. 31.

Billingsley's concedes that there's controversy among computer rankings aficionados about his methodology. Opponents' strength of schedule is based on their record at the time the teams play, not what happened afterward.

The number of games played also factors in, giving present-day teams that can play as many as 14 games an advantage over those from years ago. That's the reason only three teams from before 1970, when the regular season was expanded to 11 games, made Billingsley's Top 25: Georgia Tech in 1952, Army in 1945 and Texas in 1963.

Also, games against Football Championship Subdivision schools don't count, so LSU isn't being penalized for playing Northwestern State. In addition, margin of victory doesn't count, either. That's why Tennessee's 1998 national championship team that won five games by eight points or less is No. 3.

"I don't claim this has anything to do with talent level, either, but obviously it takes a lot of talent to beat as many good teams as LSU has," Billingsley said.

As far as he knows, Billingsley's rankings are the only one of its kind.

"It would be interesting to see what others might come up with, but I think this is a pretty good list," he said.

BCS Video Report: What to ExpectIn this look ahead to the BCS Championship game between LSU and Alabama, Times-Picayune sports columnist John DeShazier and LSU beat writer Jim Kleinpeter talk about what to expect in this rematch between the two best teams in the country. Then we get the Alabama perspective from Birmingham News sports columnist Jon Solomon.